Exhibition
by Jelp
Summary: Sometimes Naruto doesn't always think before he acts. NaruSasu
1. Chapter 1: Mistaken Identity

I don't own Naruto nor make money from writing this fic. Edited by the wonderful Master of the Rebels. Idea inspired by darkalbino's er, similar mistake that Naruto makes in this fic.

Speaking of Dark – I AM SO SORRY! I originally planned to post this yesterday (on her birthday), but I completely forgot due to X, Y, Z, and then some. (Full apology, excuses, and begging for forgiveness will be made to Dark.)

**Exhibition**

**  
Chapter 1: Mistaken Identity**

Naruto looked around him for the umpteenth time. So far, he had been unsuccessful in his attempts to find his friend in the crowd of people mulling through the art exhibition.

For the past _half hour_, Naruto had been looking for his friend with no luck, and he was getting beyond frustrated.

His friend, Gaara, had been presented with the high honor of having his artwork displayed alongside some of the most famous artists of their area (though Naruto would be damned if he could name a single one of them – he just knew that they were famous).

Most of the artists seemed the same to Naruto. They all seemed to have a darkish-angsty-broodish-come-close-to-me-and-_die_ type attitude. Not that it truly bothered Naruto all that much.

Among Gaara, his friends Neji and Sai exhibited the same artistic emo tendencies.

He also had a lot of friends that balanced out his artist type of friends like Gaara, such as his friend Kiba who he currently saw waving at him erratically to come over and see him.

As Naruto approached Kiba, he enveloped him in a big hug. Naruto was openly affectionate and greeted all his friends (and most people in general) with a hug. He was a friendly kind of guy after all.

"Have you seen Gaara?" Naruto asked.

"No. But I thought this might have been his at first, but it's not. I mean, it drips his usual style of emo-angst though apparently most artists here have the same kind of style," Kiba said, pointing at a particularly large painting.

Naruto turned to look at the painting. He could understand why Kiba would term it "emo-angst" right away. The painting was of a man lying in a bathtub with his wrists bleeding, the blood dripping down the white sides of the tub.

In the man's hand was a razor, and it was clear the man had attempted suicide.

At first, Naruto was appalled by the image, but then as he looked closer, he saw that the blood formed different kanji as it pooled on the bottom of the tub: lust, greed, hate, revenge, anger, fear, drugs, pain, and loneliness. Naruto's eyes flickered down to the title of the painting: _"Silent Killers of the Soul."_

It was one of those morbid types of paintings that get people thinking, and it made Naruto think that the artist was most likely a very lonely person, but someone who saw that there was a lot more than just suicide that could kill a person. A lot of people had very destructive lifestyles that might as well be termed a sort of suicide. There were also deep emotions that could drag someone down to make someone feel suicide was their only way out.

Each stroke of the person's face showed his heart-wrenching loneliness. There was something strangely intimate about the painting due to his utter loneliness, and it was only his sense of loyalty to Gaara and Gaara's artwork that Naruto smothered the sudden thought that this was one of the best paintings he had ever seen.

Naruto's musings were interrupted as Kiba elbowed him to get his attention.

"There's Gaara!"

Naruto whipped his head around, finally locating Gaara amongst the crowded art gallery.

"Oi! GAARA!" Naruto bellowed, getting Gaara's attention. Kiba guffawed at Naruto's action. Gaara raised his non-existent eyebrow at Naruto's boisterous greeting.

"Hey, before you go and embarrass him any more, I want to talk to you about Gaara's brother -"

Naruto was only half listening to what Kiba was saying. Gaara had started to meander back on through the crowd. Naruto turned back toward Kiba, noticing a black-haired youth standing off by Kiba's right. Having only half been paying attention to Kiba, he took in the young man standing next to his brown-haired friend.

His brain registered that Kiba had been talking about Gaara's brother. While Naruto had never met Gaara's older brother, Kankuro, he knew that Kiba and Kankuro were good friends, even though Naruto had never met him. As Kiba began to continue with his explanation, Naruto looked back over the crowd, cursing when Gaara was getting harder to pinpoint.

So instead of listening to Kiba introduce Gaara's brother, Naruto instead decided to make a quick introduction and hasty retreat so he wouldn't have to spend another half hour looking for Gaara if he lost him from his sight again.

He had come to offer his support to his friend, and he was going to go and see him at his show, damn it!

Coming right up to the black-haired man, Naruto gave him a huge bear hug and a hearty man-to-man slap on the ass.

"It's great to finally meet you! Your brother always speaks very highly of you. Speaking of which, I'm going to go and speak with him before he disappears again!" Naruto said, waving goodbye to Gaara's brother, and clapping a hand on Kiba's shoulder, oblivious to Kiba's shocked look.

Keeping Gaara locked in his sights, Naruto began to all but shove his way through the throng of people.

"Gaara!" Naruto said happily, coming up and hugging Gaara. Gaara, for his part, stood stiff and let Naruto hug him, used to (though not entirely comfortable with) Naruto's public display of affection.

"Hello, Uzumaki Naruto," Gaara greeted in his eccentric and formal way.

"So where's your stuff? I've been too busy trying to find you, to find your work," Naruto explained, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"I've been looking at the other artists' work. Rock Lee, Sasori, Deidara, Killer Bee, and Pein all have work in this exhibit. I am shocked that I made it up to par with all of these artists, but far more so to know that I am sharing exhibit space with _the_ Uchiha brothers. They are the best of the best."

Naruto nodded, figuring those were all famous artists, and he was clearly supposed to be impressed, meanwhile thinking Gaara hardly looked impressed despite his words.

"And Kankuro's puppets are on display here as well. I don't believe you've met," Gaara said, lightly grabbing Naruto's arm and maneuvering him effortlessly through the crowd. Naruto's mind got set on watching how people seemed to float to either side of Gaara like he was able to part the crowd with thought alone. So focused on this anomaly, Naruto didn't realize that he had already met Gaara's brother.

Or so he thought.

"Kankuro, this is Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto, this is my elder brother," Gaara said, gesturing to a man in front of him that was NOT the man Naruto had hugged…and slapped on the ass.

"Hi," Naruto said, feeling stunned. "You're Gaara's brother? For real?" Naruto asked, almost desperately. Kankuro didn't seem too happy about this greeting.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Kankuro demanded, offended. Naruto put up his hands apologetically.

"No, no! It's, just, umm, well, you see, I was just talking with Kiba, and he started saying something about you being here. Well, there was this guy standing right next to him, and so, instead of listening to what Kiba was going to say, I just sorta hugged the guy, saying I was happy to meet him, but apparently he wasn't you."

Both Gaara and Kankuro stared at him for a moment, before Kankuro's face split into a large grin, making Naruto glad to see that Gaara's brother, at least, was prone to smiling.

"You mean to tell me you hugged some stranger, thinking he was me?" Kankuro said, barely suppressing a laugh.

"You really are an idiot," Gaara said. Naruto just shrugged awkwardly.

* * *

When Sasuke had first seen the brunet male looking at his work, Sasuke wanted to roll his eyes. He had a feeling that the idiot hadn't realized what the painting was about.

The man didn't seem to hold a high enough IQ to understand the complexity of the self-destructive nature and activities that other human beings include in their lifestyle that kill their soul little by little, even sometimes in forthright actuality. Sasuke noted he also didn't seem to suffer from the same types of emotional distress mentioned in the painting.

When Sasuke saw the onlooker to his painting call over his friend, he listened in to see what the man had to say. Due to the amount of people around them, he missed the first part of their discussion. He got closer, hearing the man refer to his work as "emo-angst" making Sasuke positive the man didn't understand his work. Therefore Sasuke expected the first onlooker's friend to likewise be unable to appreciate his painting. The blond appeared to have a lower IQ than his friend (Sasuke wasn't being stereotypical whatsoever).

Sasuke was therefore surprised to watch the expression of awe come over the blond's features, and it filled him with a sense of pride as he saw the understanding and emotion cross over the man's face.

There was a flash of loneliness that crossed over his features, and Sasuke felt a strange connection with his painting's admirer.

Idly, Sasuke wondered if the man was an artist himself.

Sadly, Sasuke was lost in thought and therefore unsuspecting when he suddenly noted the blond standing right in front of him. Before he could speak, he was stunned into silence when the blond approached him and greeted him so...unusually.

He'd never been hugged and slapped on the ass before by a stranger.

He wasn't even sure if he'd ever been slapped _there_ before.

Sasuke stood gaping, watching the blond male that had hugged him and then had the audacity to slap his ass disappear amongst the crowd. Even so, the unknown man's words seemed to have struck a chord in him deeper than any sort of physical intimacy that had transpired between him and the stranger.

_"It's great to finally meet you! Your brother always speaks very highly of you. Speaking of which, I'm going to go and speak with him before he disappears again!"_

Who was the man? How did he know Itachi? How had he recognized him?

Usually Itachi and Sasuke didn't let their fans know what they looked like, yet this man had come up to him, recognizing him right away. He must have been a friend of Itachi's to recognize Sasuke like that.

And, did Itachi really speak highly of him? Surely the man must be one of Itachi's more unusual friends for the stranger to greet him so familiarly.

Sasuke watched after the other man before turning to the blond stranger's friend who seemed to be having a spasm of sorts.

"I – he, I mean, sorry about him!" the man apologized. Sasuke shrugged it off as he turned and walked back through the crowd, strangely pleased by the greeting, the praise, and the way the other male had so fully seemed to understand his painting.

He would have to get Itachi to give them a better introduction later on.

* * *

I know. Another multi-chapter fic to work on. This one will not be too long. Famous last words, right? ~ Jelp


	2. Chapter 2: A New Muse

Still dedicated to the lovely Darkalbino! :D She liked this chapter, so I hope you do too! And thanks to Master of the Rebels for beta'ing this for me. And naturally, Naruto does not belong to me. He belongs to Kishimoto-sama…or Sasuke.

**Exhibition**

**Chapter 2: A New Muse**

As Gaara took Naruto through the rest of the exhibit, Naruto kept glancing around to see if he could find the guy that he had hugged and slapped. He wanted to apologize.

"This is Uchiha Itachi's latest work," Gaara said, pulling Naruto from his thoughts. The painting in question was mostly shapes and circles to Naruto at first glance. Naruto looked at the painting, and tilted his head right and then left to see if either of those angles gave him a better perspective on what the painting was.

"It's on sideways," Naruto said, looking at all the shapes and circles that actually seemed to form a picture at that angle. When he tilted his head to the left, it looked like a bowl of ramen to him. And Naruto knew ramen.

"This is abstract art. It goes any way the artist feels his emotions have come out," Gaara explained calmly, aware that his friend was not used to such a style.

"No, it's on sideways," Naruto said matter-of-factly.

A deep voice chuckled behind him.

"I asked them to change it before the art show, but they had placed the hook in the framing at the wrong spot. It would have taken too much time to change it before the show started, and everyone reassured me that no one would be able to tell that it was on the wrong way. Ironically enough, you are the first to notice," a man said, coming up to look at Naruto.

Naruto almost thought it was the same man that he had hugged and slapped on the butt, but realized that this man was slightly taller, and his hair was pulled back into a pony-tail. He also thought this man's hair didn't look quite as dark as the other male he'd met earlier.

"Uchiha Itachi," the man introduced himself casually, though he didn't offer his hand in greeting.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said, grinning rather sheepishly. "And this is my buddy Gaa-ra-" Naruto said as he turned to introduce his friend, only to see that Gaara had moved on to another painting, oblivious that Naruto was no longer at his side.

"Is any of your work in the show?" Itachi asked.

"My work? What? Oh, no. I don't have anything in the show," Naruto said.

"An art critic then? Is that how you were able to tell my work was upside down? Or was it the brush strokes actually hinting at strong movement downward rather than the brusque side to side movement? Or the way that the light hits the painting better when you tilted your head, having the shadows throw around more breathtaking colors?" Itachi asked.

"Uh…" Was he just supposed to say that he thought that it just looked like a bowl of ramen to him when he tilted his head to the side? "I thought it looked like a bowl of ramen with my head tilted," Naruto muttered out.

Itachi looked at him before giving another deep, amused chuckle.

"Excellent eyes. It was, in fact, based off of that. I am not sure if you are aware of the adult Icha Icha book series, but the author of the books will shortly be re-releasing a book not related to the series. Apparently it was the first book that he wrote, but it wasn't very popular. Hardly any copies sold. From what I've heard, though, it was actually the best book he has ever written. No known copies are out at the moment, but 'The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja' pre-order already has had a higher pre-sell-out rate than his Icha Icha series."

Naruto chuckled to himself. Apparently this guy was a big fan of his godfather, Jiraiya. He also idly wondered if it were worth pointing out that the artist was lucky that it was just a bowl of ramen else Itachi would have needed to get copyright licensing if he planned to put it on sale. Lots of people seemed to forget that little detail.

"Not only that, but he's planning on writing a sequel soon. The background story on his biography website says he's actually been revamping the original for years, but waited some time to circulate it again. The information I found from online stated that he named the main character in the new series after eating a bowl of ramen. For her birthday, of all things, my mother requested that I paint a bowl of ramen for her. She's an extremely big fan of the author, and his online bio details that the bowl of ramen symbolized an important family connection for him," Itachi explained.

Naruto, for his part, scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Well that's really funny," Naruto said, "I'm not an artist or art critic. I'm a book publicist for that old perv your mom likes. He's my godfather. And yeah, he did get the name from ramen. That's where I get mine from too 'cuz my dad read that book and named me after the main character. My mom liked the idea 'cuz she's a big fan of instant ramen, like me. It's kind of an ongoing joke that I'm better than instant ramen since you don't usually get the naruto parts in the instant kind. My mom and I love ramen. I think if my dad weren't around, she'd have fed it to me all three meals for my entire childhood."

"Interesting. Then it must be fate for you to see it and meet me," Itachi said.

"Fate? You don't happen to know Hyuuga Neji do you?" Naruto wondered.

"I have not."

"Er, right. Anyway. I like the painting," Naruto said.

"As your godfather's book publicist, do you think he would like to use my artwork for his book?" Itachi asked, almost happily. Naruto eyed the man up, and wondered if the emo types ever got truly happy. He also wondered if he said no if the man would go cut himself. He really hoped that was just stereotypical nonsense.

After all, whenever Gaara got into a really emo mood, he went and played in an effing _sandbox_ of all things. Artists were just _weird_. The only ones who could be weirder were writers.

"Uh, well, while we don't have the cover art ready yet, I think he was thinking more along the lines of having a person on the cover, not a bowl of ramen," Naruto said. Itachi chuckled darkly again.

"I didn't mean this particular painting obviously, but if you're interested in having a person on the cover, might I suggest my brother, Sasuke? He's the one in the family who paints people. He's a very good portrait artist. It would help the publicity of the book to have the Uchiha name linked with the cover art – not to mention my mother would be absolutely thrilled. It would be beneficial all around," Itachi said persuasively.

"Uh, well," Naruto said, scratching his head. They actually had the same cover-artist that did the Icha Icha series lined up to do the artwork. The only reason he hadn't been commissioned yet was because Naruto had actually been trying to convince Jiraiya to use one of his artist friends to do the work instead.

He wasn't sure how his friends would take to the idea of one of these Uchiha brothers doing it.

"Speaking of my younger brother, here he comes," Itachi said nodding his head to the right.

Turning his head, Naruto felt a slight blush rise up onto his face as he realized the younger brother was none other than the man whose ass he'd slapped.

* * *

Sasuke had been looking for his brother to ask about the blond man he'd seen, when not only did he spot his brother, but the young man who had so enthusiastically greeted him earlier.

Itachi caught his eye and motioned him over.

"Sasuke, I would like to introduce you to my friend, Uzumaki Naruto," Itachi introduced.

"Yes, we met briefly before. He was looking at my 'Silent Killers of the Soul' painting, and seemed to have a good grasp on the meaning behind it," Sasuke said, nodding his head, impressed.

"That was a great painting! And your brother was right: you do paint people very well," Naruto said, nodding his head. Sasuke's mood soared. So Itachi had been telling his friend that he painted people well? High praise from his brother indeed considering Itachi usually nitpicked at him for not expanding his "artistic horizons" by dabbling in more modern art styles.

"Naruto is the only one so far to notice the ramen painting was on sideways," Itachi explained.

"_That_'s the ramen painting you did for mom's birthday? Will she be able to tell it's ramen?" Sasuke asked, feeling it was a horrible representation to give as a gift.

"I thought you'd say that. As it so happens, Naruto's godfather is the author of the new book coming out. Not only that, Naruto was named after the main character when it was first written. And of course, as Jiraiya's book publicist, his opinion about the painting holds extremely high regard, and Naruto likes it," Itachi said with a flourish. Sasuke inwardly glowered. It wasn't like Itachi to gloat about how much better he was at doing something than Sasuke – like giving a better painting for their mother. He hadn't even started on an idea for his mom yet.

Usually Itachi was the type of brother who did his best to control everything Sasuke did. Gloating usually wasn't one of them unless he planned to rile Sasuke up into some sort of challenge.

"Well," Naruto started, but Itachi interrupted him again.

"You wouldn't mind giving a quote about your ideas on the painting, would you Naruto? It would be good publicity for your godfather. You are, after all his publicist," Itachi said.

"That makes sense," Naruto agreed slowly.

"And like I was saying earlier, Sasuke here would be the perfect cover art candidate for the book. In fact, he could even use you as a model for the main character," Itachi quipped.

"What?" Naruto asked incredulous, "M-_me_?"

Finally, Sasuke realized what Itachi was doing. Normally he wasn't one to jump on opportunities that his brother was so obviously trying to give him. His brother had been trying for some time to get him to use his artistic abilities to paint less "morbid" portraits, as he had called them. As Sasuke eyed up the blond male, he noted that he was extremely attractive, very well built, would definitely not be a candidate for "darker" painting themes -

And had a nice firm smacking hand.

Not to mention if he did the cover art, he would need an exclusive copy to a pre-printed edition of the book, which he could then pass off to his mother to read.

That would be an excellent present.

"You'd be perfect. Haven't you ever done modeling before?" Sasuke wondered as he gave Naruto an artist's once over.

"Uh, well-"

"You have many artist friends. Haven't they painted you?" Itachi inquired.

"And wouldn't your godfather want you to be on the cover since you were named after the main character?" Sasuke added.

"He named me, and I guess that sort of makes me his legacy, but-"

"That settles it then. Sasuke will read the book," Itachi had apparently had the same thought about getting their hands on a copy of that book, "and use you as inspiration to paint the main character."

At first, Sasuke thought that Naruto would be pulled into the fluster of his and Itachi's not so gentle attempts at persuasion.

"I'll clear it with my godfather and contact you with his wishes," Naruto said, his voice changing, becoming more businesslike. Sasuke was rather impressed.

"Here's our information," Itachi said as he handed Naruto one of his exclusive business cards before Itachi was all but ushering Sasuke to a private area to talk.

"Why didn't you offer to let him use your ramen bowl painting?" Sasuke couldn't resist asking with a smirk.

"That's for mother anyway. This chance is for you," Itachi said, with a strange look in his eyes.

"It is a good opportunity," Sasuke admitted.

"I don't mean about the cover art. I saw that lovely little greeting between the two of you when he looked at your painting. I'm sure he likes you, or at least finds you attractive. He seems like a much nicer guy than your usual one night stands. He even likes _your_ art. If you decide to come out of the closet to mother and father, mother will back you all the way if you get her an in with that author. And if you come out of the closet first, then it won't be so horrible when I do. Aren't I such a clever genius?" Itachi practically cackled before wandering off.

Slightly baffled and a bit infuriated that his brother was trying to set him up, and take hold on his life like the control freak he was, Sasuke actually considered Itachi's words.

There was one thing that Sasuke wouldn't hesitate to admit: his brother was clever at times.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. ~ Jelp


	3. Chapter 3: Curiosity Killed the Cat

Beta'd by Darkalbino till Master finds free time to read, let alone breathe again. XD Of course, this is also dedicated to said lovely temp beta.

**Exhibition**

**Chapter 3: Curiosity Killed The Cat…**

Sasuke's art studio was NOT what Naruto imagined when they'd briefly spoken on the phone. Again, it went to show that artists were just weird.

However, he was apparently a weird but extremely famous artist who Jiraiya happened to be a big fan of.

When Naruto had called and spoken with his godfather, the old pervert was actually practically jumping for joy about being offered the chance to meet the Uchiha brothers and that one had offered to do the cover art.

"Naturally we'll make up some sort of deal with them," Jiraiya said. "As they offered, we can lower their payment unlike the last artist I used for Icha Icha Paradise. Do you know he actually demanded twice his usual fee? I suppose he thought we would definitely use him! Ha! That'll show him not to charge extra," Jiraiya cackled.

Jiraiya was a stingy guy, even though he was plenty wealthy enough, Naruto mused. It wasn't even as if that money was going to Jiraiya anyway. The publishing company would pay for the cover art. They could spend a million dollars on it if they wanted; it wouldn't be going into Jiraiya's pocket either way.

Shaking his head at how weird his author god father was, Naruto focused on how weird Sasuke's studio was.

The place wasn't dark or emo, which was a nice surprise. There were a lot of lights over head that Naruto suspected were more high-tech to get the exact lighting Sasuke wanted when working on a painting. Naruto idly wondered if it had a disco ball or black lights.

Large windows (which were currently covered by thick, dark blue drapes) would probably help give natural light if Sasuke needed it.

No more than fifteen paintings hung on the walls displaying his artwork; Naruto had expected to see hundreds. There were also all portraits. Naruto recognized Sasuke's brother, Itachi as well as the woman who had just let him into the studio, and a man that looked like Itachi, but older and with brown hair.

Only a few more portraits lined the walls. Most seemed to be simplistic, but Naruto recognized the "Silent Killers of the Soul" hanging up. Another morbid one of a man floating eerily in water, his pale hand reaching up struck a chord with Naruto, especially when he recognized the man's face.

The man in the painting was Sasuke, and he seemed to be drowning. He didn't know why, but it was hard for Naruto to look at this one. Instead, he turned his back on it, and instead looked at the way Sasuke had two sets of organization; by color wheel and then by the alphabetic name of the paint.

Overall the place was also strikingly clean. Or at least, clean from paint and other art materials. There seemed to be a lot of art supplies that cluttered the area, but it still seemed organized nonetheless.

Gaara's studio tended to have a light dusting of sand. His friend Sai usually had ink stains on the surface of his table while his other friend Neji tended to have bits of dried clay as he used his gentle yet firm hands to shape and model sculptures.

The weirdest thing about Sasuke's studio, despite the cleanliness, was all the cats.

If the artist were around, he could have asked why cats. As it was, Naruto had come to this address, been ushered inside by a very petite dark-haired woman, and promptly left alone.

There were five cats that Naruto could see milling about. A slightly chubby, all black cat sat sprawled up on a shelf, its body stretched out with its paw dangling over the edge. Another cat sat near by it: mostly black, but with white on its front paws and a little tuft of white under its neck. That cat sat alert, watching Naruto's movements. Its slender body seemed arched and almost ready to pounce.

An extremely fat cat sat on the floor. It had a large, white belly, white on its paws and face, with gray and black on its back and tail, a pattern of stripes and spots along its side.

An orange cat was curled up in a corner, asleep with its face curled in on its tail.

A mostly gray cat with white on its face, belly and paws began stalking behind Naruto as he walked around the room. Finally stopping in his exploration of the studio, the cat caught up with him and wound itself between Naruto's legs, rubbing his leg affectionately, purring loudly.

Naruto bent down and began to scratch the gray cat's head, a smile forming on his lips as the cat nuzzled into Naruto's scratches, rubbing his face and whiskers against Naruto's fingers.

"I didn't think to ask if you were allergic to cats," Sasuke said as he seemed to materialize out of no where. The mostly black cat with hints of white made a spectacular leap and began to follow behind Sasuke.

"I'm not, but what's with all the cats?" Naruto asked as he continued to scratch the gray cat's face.

"My mom loves cats. My father hates them. They're all cats my mom has found that my father has refused to let stay at their house. She comes by and drops them off here – or with Itachi. Since I'm not one to have cats in my house, they stay in the studio. This one," Sasuke said, picking up the black and white cat, "Is Tuxedo Kamen-sama. Please keep in mind my mother named them."

"Tuxedo Kamen-sama? Like from Sailor Moon?" Naruto snickered. Sasuke nodded.

"He leaps around on things, and he has these little white gloves," Sasuke said as he maneuvered Tuxedo Kamen-sama so Naruto could see the puffs of white on his paws, "and the little white tuff like a bow-tie under his chin. The all black one is his brother, Mamoru. I suppose my mother thought she was being funny naming the one the name of the alter-ego."

Naruto found it highly amusing and grinned widely, watching as Sasuke let the cat lick his fingers.

"The one by your feet that's purring her heart out is Gorogoro. Hence the purring. Her son, who's around here somewhere," Sasuke said, looking around for the absent cat, "is just a kitten. His name is Spinner."

"Spinner?" Naruto asked.

"Apparently it means 'purr' in Swedish. My mother thought it was cute to name him after his mother. She's recently started watching that True Blood series, and in the show, her favorite vampire is Swedish. Her newest hobby is learning how to speak Swedish of all things." Sasuke shrugged as if shrugging of the oddities of his mother. "Ah, let's see, the fat one is Inu. He's about the size of a small dog and drinks from the toilet when allowed, so she thought it fitting to name him dog."

"And the orange one?" Naruto asked.

"Yodare, since he drools when you pet him. Be careful petting him as he will drool heavily. He's Spinner's sire," Sasuke explained. Allowing Tuxedo Kamen-sama a few more licks on his fingers, Sasuke put the cat down.

Naruto couldn't help but think that perhaps Sasuke's mother was purposefully giving them to Sasuke as he seemed really affectionate with them. He definitely seemed like a cat person, even if he made it sound like they were a burden his mother siphoned off onto him.

A mental image of Sasuke dressed all in black with kitty ears and a tail invaded his mind, and Naruto bent lower to pet Gorogoro in order to hide the blush it caused.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Naruto eyed Sasuke up and down.

Now that he wasn't busy being mortified at how he had greeted the man, he took a good look at Sasuke. Tall, dark, and handsome. Yeah, that suited Naruto's preferences just fine.

The artist wore a tight fitted, silky black shirt. He wore dark blue jeans that had a few splatters of paint on them, and Naruto was glad the cat was in front of him. He had a strong urge to reach out and touch the pants and was grateful for the distraction with his hand.

"Speaking of my mom," Sasuke said, turning to face Naruto, "she was the woman who let you in. Apparently, Itachi told her that you were coming over and wanted to meet you. I'm surprised she didn't stay and fangirl over you. I didn't realize that in addition to Jiraiya's book publicist, he had you write one of the books in his series. She said the one you wrote was her favorite."

The blush on Naruto's face darkened. He'd written it as a joke for Jiraiya. However, as Jiraiya had needed to get a new book out in time for a deadline, the perv had gone ahead and used Naruto's work as his own. At least the normally stingy man gave all of the sales to Naruto. It was how Jiraiya had raked Naruto in to being his publicist, saying he could help make more money – and get paid lots of money. The more Naruto advertised the books, the more money Naruto would get from the book he had written.

Even so, it was a bit awkward knowing that Sasuke's mother had read and liked his porn novel.

"I didn't realize that many people knew I wrote one. It's still under Jiraiya's name," Naruto said, standing back up slowly, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

Sasuke snorted.

"My mother is a bit fanatical about the books. If there's a hint of information out there, she'll find it. Speaking of your god-father's books, do you happen to have a manuscript I can read to get an idea of how I should paint you for the upcoming series?" Sasuke wondered.

"Uh, well. You need to sign a contract first. It will explain about the copyrights of the book and about the copyrights we will have to the artwork related to it," Naruto began as he pulled out the contract from his pocket and thoroughly went over the legal rights.

------------

Sasuke watched Naruto's mouth moving, much more interested in watching Naruto than listening to the details of the contract. The publicist was a lot different than Sasuke's usual "preference." Naruto seemed happy and cheerful. He smiled easily, and his blue eyes sparkled warmly.

It was strange to see Naruto in his art studio. He hadn't planned on letting Naruto come up here; he rarely let his family come in let alone people he barely knew, but his mother had gotten to Naruto first, ushering him in before Sasuke could say anything. The art studio was his sanctuary. He'd feel more comfortable inviting Naruto into his bedroom than into his studio.

Yet to see him in the studio felt strangely nice. Naruto seemed to fit right in, and if it turned out Sasuke wasn't able to pursue him in the way he wanted to, he would make sure to have a painting of Naruto added to his personal gallery of paintings hanging on his wall.

"So if you'll just sign here," Naruto said, as he handed Sasuke a ball point pen. Dark eyes quickly rescanned the contract page before him as he'd stopped listening to the last bit to make sure he wasn't being hood-winked; he signed his name in a flourish before handing it back to Naruto.

"No distribution or speaking with anyone else about the book until after the release of the book in two months?" Sasuke clarified.

"Yes. And you said over the phone two weeks will be enough time to finish your work?" Naruto asked. Sasuke nodded.

"It will be plenty of time. Normally I do full canvas sized paintings, but I will do a smaller one for better detail and quality for the smaller book covering. That will take much less time. In this instance, it's actually very nice to have cats around. They shed their whiskers, and I use the whiskers to make a small paint brush. One cat whisker is good at making small lines, like painting eyelashes," Sasuke explained.

"Cool. I never thought about that," Naruto mused. Sasuke nodded again.

"I'm going to take some pictures to get an idea of how I might want to dress you," Sasuke smirked, inwardly thinking of the double meaning to his words as he walked gracefully around the two cats at his feet.

"Pictures of me?" Naruto asked.

"It will help give me an idea of how to paint you. In reality, you don't need to be here when I work, but it would make the painting process go a lot faster," Sasuke explained. Not to mention it would give him an excuse to invite Naruto over.

"Should I, uh, pose or something?" Naruto wondered.

Sasuke grinned to himself. It seemed he wasn't used to being a model. While he exuded self-confidence, there was a hint of shyness to it. Idly, Sasuke wondered if Naruto had always been so chipper and bold now this other side was showing. Remembering how Naruto had seemed so deeply into his painting, "Silent Killers of the Soul", Sasuke decided that Naruto might have a darker past than he let on. The grin slipped from his face as he wondered about the attractive man before him.

Grabbing his camera equipment from off one of his many shelves, he motioned Naruto toward the center of the room toward the window. He opened the drapes and let the natural light shine down on Naruto.

The light and shadow play on Naruto's face made something in Sasuke's chest ache while meanwhile making his pants a little tighter.

"I'm guessing that as a ninja, this will be a story that takes place mostly out doors. Sunlight will be better for the lighting," Sasuke said as he began to direct Naruto in poses before snapping away.

Looking down at the screen on his camera, Sasuke back-tracked through the photos to make sure that all the pictures were to his liking. Sasuke wondered what Naruto would say if he asked him to take off his clothes and pose nude. Deciding it wasn't quite appropriate…yet…Sasuke continued to take a few more pictures before Naruto suddenly stumbled.

At Naruto's feet was a little tuft of gray fur with a few hints of orange mixed in. The little kitten looked up at Naruto, and meowed expectantly.

"Ah. That's Spinner," Sasuke explained. Naruto's eyes went wide.

"He's so cute!" Naruto said with a goofy grin on his face as he scooped the kitten up and lifted it close to his face. Spinner started purring loudly, and his little pink tongue darted out to lick Naruto's nose.

Sasuke put up a hand to lightly scratch his nose, hiding the smile on his face.

"Isn't he so adorable?" Naruto asked, holding the little kitten in front of his face. It was as though he expected Sasuke to disagree. It was his cat after all.

Smirking, Sasuke held up the camera and snapped a picture. The angle of the picture made it look like Naruto had Spinner's whiskers as the little head barely covered Naruto's lips and nose in the picture.

"You have whiskers," Sasuke said, showing the picture to Naruto. As Naruto moved closer to him to look at the screen, tingles went through Sasuke's body. Usually Sasuke liked to keep a large radius of personal space. Yet Naruto, who clearly could care less about personal space, seemed quite content to get close to Sasuke. For once, Sasuke didn't mind.

Purposefully brushing his shoulder against Naruto's, Sasuke zoomed in, showing a close up of Spinner.

Naruto grinned at him before his eyes darted above his head, his grin fading slightly. Sasuke frowned at the look before turning his head over his shoulder, looking at his self-portrait.

"Why did you paint yourself drowning?" Naruto asked.

It would figure that the book publicist would ask about _that _painting.

"Why do you want to know?" Sasuke wondered, trying to figure out how much to say about it. On the one hand, it could be a good segue way into asking Naruto out. On the other hand, it was extremely personal.

"Just curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat. And I don't want that to happen," Sasuke half joked as he reached out and scratched behind Spinner's ears, also lightly brushing Naruto's hand as he did so.

"Emo artist moment?" Naruto said while grinning widely, joking back. Sasuke chuckled, but didn't respond. Instead, he opted for changing the subject.

"Would you like to join me for dinner? I'm sure my mom has already invaded my kitchen and prepared a meal in attempts to lure you to stay so she can talk with you more," Sasuke explained. Naruto laughed.

"Ah, yeah, sure, I guess. It's kinda weird. I'm used to people recognizing my god-father, but I've never really had this happen to me before. Do you get it often, being a famous artist and all?" Naruto wondered as he put Spinner down.

"Not usually recognized. I get fan mail, but I usually don't read it. It's often silly. You recognized me though," Sasuke said, remembering the lovely greeting he'd received. Naruto cocked his head to the side and looked a little puzzled.

"Itachi pointed you out," Naruto responded. Sasuke nodded, realizing Itachi must have shown Naruto his picture at some point and time, or pointed him out earlier in the show. The only painting Itachi had of Sasuke was mostly fucking _circles_. Then again, Naruto had managed to recognize Itachi's one painting as a bowl of ramen; maybe he could just figure Itachi out? If that was the case, Naruto deserved an award.

"If you come through this way, it leads to my apartment," Sasuke said, ushering Naruto through his art studio to where one of the drapes hid a stairwell that led downstairs.

A large grin spread across Naruto's face as he inhaled deeply.

"Mmm! Ramen!" Naruto noted happily. Sasuke gave a low chuckle as they descended the staircase.

Sasuke's mom was happily moving about his kitchen taking out the fresh ingredients he'd bought earlier that morning. Yes, Itachi had told their mother that Naruto was coming over, but Itachi had also happened to tell Sasuke that Naruto's favorite food was ramen. Sasuke may have mentioned that to his mother knowing as the expert cook she was, would want to try and impress Naruto.

Feeling not the least bit guilty about using his mom as an excuse to get Naruto to stay for dinner and to come down to his apartment, Sasuke graciously introduced Naruto to his mother.

"Mom, this is Naruto. Naruto, this is my mother, Uchiha Mikoto."

"It's nice to meet you, Uchiha-san," Naruto said politely as he gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek. Giggling sweetly, she grabbed Naruto's hand and smiled.

"Please, please! Mikoto is fine dear," she said happily, giving Naruto's hand a firm squeeze. "Did I hear right? Is your favorite food ramen? You must stay for dinner," Mikoto said happily.

"Yeah, sure," Naruto said.

Dinner went well in Sasuke's opinion; at least it had up until the end. His mother had been the one to grill Naruto about his life, happily comparing Sasuke and Itachi to him which in turn made it easy for Sasuke since he was never one to talk about himself. He learned a lot about Naruto, and in turn, Naruto learned a lot about him without him having to say a word.

"Well, I must get going! It was lovely meeting you, Naruto," Mikoto said with a large smile. Naruto gave her another hug and another peck on the cheek.

She turned to Sasuke and gave him a hug too, an unusual show of affection, but he took it nonetheless. When she gave him a quick squeeze she spoke quietly in his ear.

"I like him a lot! He's not like the usual one nighters you use," Mikoto whispered.

Sasuke felt the color drain from his face. Mikoto moved away from her son and smiled.

"I'm your mother. I know things," she said happily. She turned to see that Naruto had excused himself to the bathroom before speaking again. "And the video that one man made was on a website I, uh, might or might not like to frequent, sort of gave it away that you like men. Do you know how awkward that was to find out that my son was doing those types of things? Don't worry though; it was hardly recognizable as you; the pictures were fuzzy as it came from a camera phone and only lasted all of twelve seconds. Of course as your mother I could recognize, your, uh, moans. Also, I did make sure to send the man a virus that destroyed the video and his computer. Make sure no cameras or phones are involved the next time, okay?" She gave him another hug as Naruto re-emerged from the bathroom.

Sasuke could merely gape at his mother in stunned mortification, before schooling his face lest Naruto see.

"It was nice meeting you Naruto. Bye sweetheart," Mikoto smiled as she let herself out.

Sasuke felt he had a lot to be mortified about. First of all, his mother knew he was gay. Second of all, there had been a sex video of him circulating the web. Third, it disturbed him that he had no idea who had the balls to put a video of him up in the first place. Fourth, his mother went on gay porn website. Fifth, his mother had _seen_ that video on said website. Finally, his mother was an internet hacker.

"Sasuke, are you alright?" Naruto asked, concerned. "You look, like, really pale. I mean, you are really pale, but more so than usual."

"I'm fine."

"You sure?" Naruto checked. Sasuke nodded and waved his hand airily.

"So, what time tomorrow?" Naruto wondered, still looking at Sasuke a bit concerned.

"What?"

"What time do you want me to be here tomorrow?" Naruto asked. "My work schedule is pretty flexible."

"Can you be here by noon?" Sasuke asked, pushing his earlier thoughts to the side.

"Sure, no problem. And here's the copy of the book. It's one of the originals that came out years ago. Shame not many of them sold then, but they're worth a lot now. Jiraiya signed it for you and everything." Naruto flipped open the inside and showed him the inscription.

"Thanks," Sasuke murmured, looking at the book.

"I should get going," Naruto noted. Nodding, Sasuke gestured for Naruto to follow him through his apartment, so he didn't have to go back out through his art studio.

"I look forward to seeing you tomorrow," Sasuke said as he showed Naruto to the front door.

"Yep! Later!" Naruto said as he gave Sasuke a hug. Sasuke tensed as he hadn't been expecting it. He was slow to respond, but he made sure to wrap his arms around Naruto back, lingering perhaps a little longer than he should have, especially as he felt another one of those lovely slaps to his ass.

Naruto grinned brightly at him before leaving.

Sasuke closed the door, his mind in a whirl.

He wished it could have been lingering on the second slap to his ass, or even seeing Naruto again tomorrow. Unfortunately, his brain was stuck on wondering how much of a pervert his own mother was.

* * *

My favorite part about writing this is hearing Darkalbino's reactions: "When I grow up, I want to be like Mikoto!" Glad you liked your pervry Mikoto Dark!

(Feel free to ignore this ramble.) Because I know you're all just _dying _to know about the cats which are all based off of actual kitties: the names Tuxedo Kamen-sama and Mamoru are copyright by Sailor Moon author Naoko Takeuchi. Those cats are based off of my aunt's cats, Cleo, who looks and acts as mentioned, and Harmony, who looks and acts like mentioned. Gorogoro (which means purr in Japanese) is based off of two cats; a famous YouTube cat that can be found by searching "Stalking Cat" into the YouTube browser. That cat is also based off of Munchkin, my friend's cat. Yodare (which means drool in Japanese) is based off of two cats; my husband's kitty who drools every time you pet her: like she drools so bad that you better have a towel, and the coloring based off of Monkey, another of my friend's cat. Inu (which means dog in Japanese) the big fat cat, is based off of my own cat, Pepper. He's big, fat, lazy, and does drink from the toilet. And Spinner, the kitty, is based off of Mako's cat who is gray and fluffly.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! ~ Jelp


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